day, hour after hour, loomed up in the 

 distance. 



In the foreground the figures of Sidi 

 Hadj, his sons, and the Troglodytes sil- 

 houetted against a sunset sky of green 

 and gold; beneath us to the south and 

 west stretched a reddish golden mass of 

 sand— the Great Sahara in all its fasci- 

 nating mystery. 



Almost 2,000 feet below us wound and 

 wriggled what looked like an earth- 

 worm — a belated caravan of camels 

 heading toward some gourbis (Bedouin 

 tents) whose camp-fire dotted the distant; 

 landscape. Everything was still and no 

 one spoke ; all felt the spell of that glori- 

 ous sunset. Even the horses, mules, don- 

 keys, camels, and those vicious, yapping 

 Kabyle dogs seemed quiet. 



Twilight lasts about three minutes ; 

 then comes utter darkness, when the 

 Troglodytes barricade their gates and 

 doors and unloose their numerous dogs. 

 The day's work was finished and we had 

 had a hard day's ride. Those thick Per- 

 sian rugs seemed very tempting. 



What mattered it if 18 others slept in 

 the same cave. But I could not let them 

 close and lock the great cave door. A 

 Troglodyte cave has air-tight walls, roof, 

 and floor cut out of solid rock. Sidi 

 Hadj begged and pleaded, saying that we 

 would all be murdered; but I remained 

 firm, and the door remained open. 



Undressing is quite simple for an 

 Arab. He takes off some of his gar- 

 ments, unfastens his belt, puts his slip- 

 pers near him, also his gun or pistol, and 

 rolls himself in his bernous. They sleep 

 very heavily, and it is difficult to awaken 

 them. 



About 2 a. m. I was awakened by a 

 queer noise that I thought was made by 

 thieves. I grabbed my Browning and 

 waited. All the men in the cave slept 

 soundly. A moonbeam fell through the 

 open door, and I saw a large Kabyle dog 

 creeping into our cave. I threw one of 

 my heavy boots at him and he rushed out 

 howling ; but, in spite of the noise, no one 

 stirred. Twenty minutes later back he 

 came ; this time my other boot caught him 

 on the head, and he made a fearful noise, 

 "but every one slept on. 



A TRAGEDY WITH A HAPPY ENDING 



Early in the morning, as I was exam- 

 ining Guermessa and taking some photo- 

 graphs of the caves, we heard screams, 



wiu, HE COME? 



One of the great attractions of these daugh- 

 ters of the desert is the exquisite grace of 

 their carriage and the unconsciously beautiful 

 poses they adopt when at rest. 



11 



